Fake-Accident Scam Gets Man 5-Year Term : Courts: Duc Minh Nguyen was middleman in one of state’s biggest auto insurance frauds.

An Orange County man was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison for his role in what prosecutors called one of the biggest auto insurance frauds in state history.

Duc Minh Nguyen, 33, was one of 19 people arrested in Orange County in January after an 18-month undercover investigation of three loosely connected fraud rings in Orange and San Diego counties. Additional arrests were made in San Diego County.

Participants in the two operations allegedly staged phony accidents in exchange for insurance kickbacks, though little money was lost during the undercover investigation.

Nguyen was the link between the three loosely connected fraud rings, whose members stood to net as much as $40,000 per car accident in payments to fraudulent accident victims, officials contended.

“Nguyen was the common denominator between the rings, so he was key to it all,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth Chinn. Nguyen pleaded guilty recently to similar charges in San Diego and received a two-year prison sentence, Chinn said.

Nguyen was convicted April 26 in Orange County Superior Court of four felony counts of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and four felony counts of insurance fraud. Judge Kathleen O’Leary on Tuesday sentenced Nguyen to five years in prison, which he will serve concurrently with his San Diego sentence.

Nguyen’s attorney, Mitchell E. Haddad, did not return a phone call to his office Tuesday.

Another defendant, Jose Orozco, has been sentenced to one year in jail for participating in a staged accident. The remaining Orange County cases are still pending, Chinn said.

The undercover investigation was aimed at doctors and lawyers who allegedly solicited customers to claim false injuries and then share the insurance proceeds. Two Orange County attorneys and two doctors are among those awaiting trial.

Nguyen was a so-called “capper,” who solicited individuals to participate in staged accidents. He then referred the individuals to doctors who allegedly claimed to have treated the false injuries and attorneys who allegedly assisted in securing the insurance payments, prosecutors said.

State officials estimate that fraud costs the insurance industry between $1.5 billion and $2 billion annually.

No real accidents or injuries occurred during the undercover operation, Chinn said. The arrests were made before large insurance payments were issued.